Drones get really tiny; new rules proposed for Seattle police

By JAKE ELLISON, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Updated 3:48 pm, Wednesday, February 6, 2013

British troops in Afghanistan are the first to use state-of-the-art handheld nano surveillance helicopter, the British goverment said today.

Photo: Crown Copyright

British troops in Afghanistan are the first to use state-of-the-art...

British Army Sgt. Scott Weaver of the Queens Royal Lancers launches one of the world’s smallest drones from a compound in Afghanistan. Photo: U.K. Ministry of Defence

Photo: Crown Copyright

British Army Sgt. Scott Weaver of the Queens Royal Lancers launches...

British Army Sgt. Scott Weaver of the Queens Royal Lancers launches one of the world’s smallest drones from a compound in Afghanistan. Photo: U.K. Ministry of Defence

Photo: Crown Copyright

British Army Sgt. Scott Weaver of the Queens Royal Lancers launches...

Seattle Police displayed a drone that has the ability to take aerial photos at a maximum of 400 feet. It can run for about 10 minutes. The plan has received mixed reviews, and at an Oct. 25 meeting at the Garfield Community Center several people responded to police by yelling and swearing.

Photo: Casey McNerthney/seattlepi.com

Seattle Police displayed a drone that has the ability to take...

Seattle Police displayed a drone that has the ability to take aerial photos at a maximum of 400 feet. It can run for about 10 minutes. The plan has received mixed reviews, and at an Oct. 25 meeting at the Garfield Community Center several people responded to police by yelling and swearing.

Photo: Casey McNerthney/seattlepi.com

Seattle Police displayed a drone that has the ability to take...

Seattle Police displayed a drone that has the ability to take aerial photos at a maximum of 400 feet. It can run for about 10 minutes. The plan has received mixed reviews, and at an Oct. 25 meeting at the Garfield Community Center several people responded to police by yelling and swearing.

Photo: Casey McNerthney/seattlepi.com

Seattle Police displayed a drone that has the ability to take...

Seattle Police displayed a drone that has the ability to take aerial photos at a maximum of 400 feet. It can run for about 10 minutes. The plan has received mixed reviews, and at an Oct. 25 meeting at the Garfield Community Center several people responded to police by yelling and swearing.

Weighing in at 16 grams and capable of performing in "harsh environments and windy conditions" a tiny drone unveiled by the British government today shows just how quickly drone technology and use is developing.

“The Black Hornet is equipped with a tiny camera which gives troops reliable full-motion video and still images. Soldiers are using it to peer around corners or over walls and other obstacles to identify any hidden dangers and the images are displayed on a handheld terminal,” the British government wrote.

And as the Seattle Police Department, like many others in the nation, becomes eager to use drones as part of their police work, Seattle Councilman Bruce Harrell jumped into the fray this afternoon with proposed legislation to rein in drone use.

"Seattle will be the first city to consider drone legislation to protect the public's civil liberties," Harrell's staff wrote in a press release announcing the legislation. Harrell is chair of the Seattle City Council's Public Safety, Civil Rights and Technology Committee.

The legislation is needed, the documents states, because:

The U.S. Congress has authorized the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to approve the use of unmanned aircraft systems by public agencies for domestic purposes.

Absent federal regulations, it falls on local jurisdictions to regulate unmanned aircraft operations to protect the public's reasonable expectation of privacy and civil liberties.

Unmanned aircraft may help public agencies gather information in certain public safety situations, such as natural disasters, search and rescue, police investigations, and significant traffic accidents.

Therefore, the bill states, "the Seattle Police Department may operate a limited number of unmanned aircraft under certain circumstances."

Heated debate in Seattle

The Seattle PD has already been hotly criticized over its desire to operate a drone that has the ability to take aerial photos at a maximum of 400 feet and can run for about 10 minutes.

At a public hearing in October, angry residents crowded into the Garfield Community Center to give the police an earful about it.

Protesters launched insults complaining about invasions of privacy, yelled that the drones were a tools of capitalism and political suppression, called officers murderers, and demanded charges be brought against them, the PI reported.

"I'm not really surprised that people are upset," American Civil Liberties Union spokeswoman Jennifer Shaw said at the meeting. "It's a frightening thing to think that there's government surveillance cameras flying overhead."

Seattle is one of 50 organizations with federal approval for the aircraft. Police said the drones will likely be used to aid the Arson/Bomb Squad or SWAT members in barricaded situations and not to record protests.

Here's the first few proposed rules:

A. Unmanned aircraft shall not be used to conduct general surveillance.

B. Unmanned aircraft shall be used only for data collection.

C. Unmanned aircraft shall not be equipped with weapons.

D. Unmanned aircraft should be used for data collection only on the target (as specified in the warrant or written documentation authorizing the operation of the unmanned aircraft as required in Section 14.18.050). SPD should avoid data collection on individuals, homes, or other areas other than the target. Inadvertent data collection is not a violation if such data is collected while an unmanned aircraft is operated in good faith.

E. SPD may use facial recognition or biometric matching technology on data collected by unmanned aircraft only to confirm the identity of the target specified in the warrant or written documentation required in Section 14.18.050.